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'Wolfpack' Marines compete in warrior challenge

Marines with 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion execute a log and tire march at Del Valle Field during the "Wolfpack" Warrior Challenge, April 25, 2014. This photo is property of the U.S. Marine Corps Division of Public Affairs.

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (May 1, 2014) - Exhaustion and determination cover the faces of the Marines as they push to the next objective. The senior Marine of the group shouts at the top of his lungs for his Marines to surround the wall. The Marines arrive and in this slight pause, the sand-covered, filthy Marines take a deep breath, grab their gear, and charge the wall, not knowing what waits on the other side.

Marines with 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion participated in ‘The Wolfpack' Warrior Challenge held at multiple locations throughout the Combat Center April 25. The course covered approximately 10 miles and included various obstacles to challenge the Marines.

"It teaches you to work as a team," said Sgt Daniel Ragan, LAV 25 gunner, 3rd LAR. "It is good to get the Marines out there and make them work as a team because it's not every day that you are given an objective and have to think on your feet to get past it with Marines by your side."

‘The Wolfpack' Warrior Challenge was a battalion-wide combat endurance test. The course was held throughout the Combat Center causing the Marines to have to run from each obstacle to the next. The obstacles thrown at the Marines included log run, buddy carries, a mud run, burpees, push-ups and getting over walls. The Marines operated in small units consisting of the Marines they work with within the battalion.

"I come from the headquarters side of things," Ragan said. "We all have different jobs so we don't get a chance to work together as much. Things like this course bring us all together and force us to work as a team."

The course was not a timed event but took an average of 2 and a half hours to complete. The Warrior Challenge was not organized as a competition but that quickly changed after it began.

"Everyone wants bragging rights," Ragan said. "We were one of the last teams to start and immediately we wanted to catch up and pass the other teams to prove we are better."

The course also educated the Marines in some of the history of ‘The Wolfpack.' After completing some of the obstacles, the small unit leader would stop and read to the rest of the Marines some of the accomplishments of their brothers in arms.

"It's all about unit cohesion," said Cpl Joshua Rojas, team leader, C Co., 3rd LAR. "To learn about our past, train together, and complete obstacles together, brings us closer as a unit. This course took all of those things and brought them into one event."

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